The Forgotten Survivor
by aryn-vernier
Summary: Takes place during Jak II in an AU. What if, Jak wasn't the only survivor of the Dark Eco Treatments done by Baron Praxis? Jak puzzles over dreams in which the Baron keeps mentioning 'the other'. R&R please.
1. Strange Dreams And A Mission

_Talking...Can't understand. Something about Dark Eco Treatments. AAAAARRRRG! Pain...So much pain. 'Get the other one. She seems to be different than this one.' Yeah...Anyone but me._

Jak sat straight up, panting. His blankets were tangled around him and half of them lay in the floor. He ran his shaky fingers through his long blonde hair. Daxter opened an eye for a moment then got up.

"You alright?" The orange rodent asked sleepily.

Jak scared Daxter sometimes, especially since he came out of the Baron's Prision. The once innocent boy was something entirely different. Jak took a deep breathe.

"I think there were others that survived besides me. I...I heard them say 'Get the other one. She seems different than this one.' I don't know though."

"Maybe, I don't think so. It'd take one hard nut to survive what you did." Daxter said with a shrug as he watched his friend. Jak laid back down and sighed. He would kill Baron Praxis for what he had done.

The next morning came bright and early thanks to the Tattooed Wonder, as Daxter liked to call Torn. "What now?" Daxter said irritatedly. He had long since gotten tired of the (overly) dangerous missions that Torn sent them on. Jak crossed his arms.

"What do you want us to blow up, destroy, or kill now?" Torn grinned at Jak's comment. The boy was always to the point he thought as he thumbed his dagger, and then his grin turned into a scowl.

"Something has been killing my men. The killings look like something a metal head would do, just worse. The word on the wire is that it's happening to the Krimson Guard as well. I want whatever the hell it is dead and I want it's head on a silver platter!" He slammed his fist on the table, causing Daxter to jump. Daxter hoped onto the table and began to start in on one of his rants.

Jak interrupted him. "A silver platter I can't do, but I can deliver its head."

Torn nodded slowly and pulled out one of the many maps he had, "It's been attacking in the general area of the palace." He traced out an area on the map with his finger. "The attacks that I know about have been here, here, here, and here." He pointed out a few spots on the map. Jak nodded, then turned and walked out of the Underground Hideout.

"So what do ya think it is, Jak?" Daxter asked as he clung to Jak's shoulder armor. Jak gave a shrug of indifference.

"Hell if I know. I doubt it's a metal head. They can't get past the eco shields. So it has to be something else." At this point, he went silent as he tried to decide which place they should investigate first. As much as he wanted to strike a damaging blow to the Baron, a side mission like this was a welcome change. The grunt work that Torn sent them on was annoying at times.

Across the city, near the Palace, something perched on a rooftop, hidden in the shadows. Softly the being growled as purple energy crackled around it. The ominous purple energy was none other than Dark Eco. The energy continued to crackle around the creature, striking the wall behind it, leaving black marks like low grade explosives would make. Glowing green eyes watched the people below who were oblivious of its presence. It looked towards the horizon; the sun had not rose yet, still time for a kill. Crouching, it leapt onto the wall, leaving deep holes where its claws had been.

A Krimson Guard was slacking off on the job, the city was worthless to protect. He saw no point in patrolling, nothing happened at night anyway. The Guard leaned against the alley wall smoking a cigarette, bored; he waited for the shift change so he could head back to the barracks. The monster eyed him a moment before pouncing. The Guard never knew what hit him. His skull broke open on the cement due to the force of the jump. The dark creature ripped him open, not bothering to eat anything. Blood sprayed the walls and entrails lined the floor of the alley. The people outside, avoided the alley, and averted their eyes. Five minutes later, the creature was gone, and off to it's lair in the tall, old bell tower in the slums.

On his way to the palace, Jak got a message from none other than Krew.

"Jak, I want you to get a package from an associate of mine. If he doesn't give it to you willingly, ah...You know what to do." Krew then clicked off. With a low growl of annoyance, Jak changed directions and started heading towards the 'associate' was. The place was a run down house in the slums, judging by the directions.

"Joy. We get to play delivery boys...Again!" Daxter complained loudly.

Once at the slums, Jak knocked on the door to the house and waited for a few moments. Finally, the door was answered by a mousey older man who upon seeing Jak gave a squeak of fear.

"C-can I help you?"

"Krew wants his package." The blonde replied, crossing his arms. The man gave another squeak before scuttling into the house and returning shortly with a poorly wrapped package. It was quickly given to the young hero.

"Here it is. J-just don't kill me!" The door was then slapped shut. The two outside blinked a few times before looking at each other. Shaking his head, Jak tucked the package into a small pack he had before grabbing a zoomer and heading to The Hip Hog Saloon. The package was delivered to the floating tub of lard. Krew only grunted at them and sent the two on their less than merry way. Jak, however, was happy to get back to hunting down the creature. He was curious to know what it was.


	2. The Battle Of The Dark Eco Beings

The demolition Duo arrived at the palace, in due time. However, it was long after the dark eco creature had left. Jak paused by an alley and sniffed the air. Thanks to the Dark Eco, his senses were a great deal better than the average person's were.

Daxter stared at him strangely,"Whacha smelling tall dark and gruesome?"

Jak walked into the alley warily, "Blood." Jak's boots made a squishing sound on the blood that pooled around the body, and then he stopped suddenly as his boot hit something soft yet firm. Jak looked down and grimaced. Two years ago, he would have thrown up. Daxter, unlike Jak, didn't have a strong stomach and leapt off of Jak's shoulder to barf. Jak crouched down and examined the wounds on the corpse.

"This looks animalistic to me. Long claws, sharp teeth, very strong jaws..." He muttered to himself. The body was beyond mangled, bones broken by powerful jaws and teeth. He stood and looked up at the wall. It seemed like the thing leapt down. Then he saw the deep claw marks in the brick and cement which meant the creature went and climbed back up after it had finished killing the guard. Jak pulled the communicator off his belt and dialed in Torn.

"It better be good." Torn growled, he was obviously irritated about being disturbed.

Jak rolled his eyes, "Well, I found a body, but no creature." There was a silence before Torn spoke.

"See if you can-BY MAR!" There was the static from the radio that Torn usually kept on, then yells and someone yelling something garbled. "Jak! Get to the slums near Orchi's!" The communicator clicked off.

Jak commandeered a nearby zoomer and hit the gas. Daxter yelped and spat out some incoherent cuss word. Driving like a mad man, Jak avoided certain death by inches and sometimes less. As he drove, he ignored Daxter's screams of terror. It was nothing new for him. At the last moment, he leapt off the zoomer right before it blew up. He rolled and landed on his feet, quickly, he glanced around before hearing an angered roar and men yelling. As he ran, Jak drew his Morph Gun and headed towards the sound of combat.

What he saw as he came around the corner almost made him drop his gun. The creature that stood in the middle of the road was something out of nightmares. It was approximately seven feet tall, and covered with thick, black scales. Thorned horns curled out of its skull, spikes ran from the top of its head, down it's spine to its bladed tail. The tail blade was approximately two feet long and curved like a scythe. The claws, however, drew his eyes the most; they were just like his when he transformed into Dark Jak: a foot and a half long and perfectly capable of gutting someone. Another clue to what it was: the purple bolts of energy that struck around it.

Jak clutched the area on his chest where the Dark Eco had always struck him during the treatments and winced at the memory of the pain. Then he gritted his teeth in agony as the Dark Eco being within him struggled to get out. Slowly, but surely, the monster with in came out. The first change was his short nails turned black and lengthening to an insanely long length, to the point that they were daggers. His hair and skin paled to a deathly white color, black horns sprouted from his skull, more layers of muscle formed over his already well muscled frame, and finally, his pain filled dark blue eyes turned black with hatred and anger.

The creature's attention turned from the Krimson Guard to Dark. The KG decided to swiftly retreat; a wise choice, considering. The two Dark Beings circled each other, sizing the enemy up. Both lashed out at the air towards each other, trying to intimidate the other. Dark was never one to have much patience, he quickly lashed out and attacked first. The reptilian creature ducked down and head butted him, goring him through the stomach with its horns. Dark howled with fury and pain before he drove his claws into its sides, causing the creature to jerk back and howl in pain itself. With a powerful toss of its head, it threw him off its horns, and caused his claws to slide out of its sides. The creature snarled angrily before making a painful retreat, dripping dark echo blood as it went.

With a soft groan, Dark faded away, leaving a battered Jak to collapse to the ground. His wounds, a bit healed, were still severe. Pretty much everyone but a few Underground members, who had stayed to watch the fight, cleared the area a long time ago. The said members rushed towards Jak and helped him back to the hideout. There, the medic helped bandage Jak up who then rested on the rock hard bunk bed. Torn naturally, was not happy about all of it. However, he didn't say anything since he had been appeased with a description of the monster. Soon, the underground quieted down as a good number of the people retired to bed.

Daxter stared at Jak, "You've been quiet, how come?" Jak was quiet a few more moments before looking to Daxter.

"Before Dark took over, he was excited to meet another of his kind...A female one."

Daxter blinked almost stupidly for a moment. "You're saying that that...Thing was female!" Jak nodded tiredly. Daxter didn't seem happy.

"Well, whatever it is, maybe it's dead now."

Jak shook his head. "I don't know, look what I lived though. Heh. Besides, I don't want it dead now." Furrowing his furry eyebrows, Daxter leapt onto Jak's chest, causing Jak to wince in pain.

Daxter grabbed the collar of Jak's shirt, bellowing loudly. "Are you nuts!" A few people groaned at the outburst. Scattered 'shut up's could be heard from a few of the still awake members.

Exasperated, Jak shoved the orange ottsel off his chest. "Maybe I am, but I want to know more about it."

Daxter crossed his arms and scowled. "You must have smacked your head harder than I thought you did."


	3. Round Two

The next night, Jak laid in bed, unable to sleep. Daxter was snoozing on the pillow at the foot of the bed, mumbling something about Tess. Silently, Jak got up and pulled on his boots. Sneaking past the other bunk beds filled with sleeping Resistence members, Jak got to the entrance. The door slid open and into the night air, he stepped. It was still dark out, with pitch black clouds above. A gentle drizzle came down from the sky above, blanketing everything in a thin residue of water. Faintly, he could hear the soft rumble of thunder, or was than an explosion? Having long made up his mind, Jak walked to the area where he and the Dark Eco creature had fought. He moved slower than normal, thanks to his not quite healed injuries. Sighing softly, he rubbed the bridge of his nose. For some reason, the Dark Eco creature within his mind was excited, which was unusual. It wasn't angry, but…Curious? _Maybe_, Jak thought, _it was because we both thought that we were the only ones like this._

The trail left by the creature's dark eco laced blood was easy to follow. Simply because the fluid had burned black pits into the ground. Jak stopped at a building where the trail led up the wall. Now how was he going to get up there? The answer came quickly enough. Dark seized control, or at least Jak thought he had. No, he was...In control? Normally he blacked out or he was shoved to the back of his mind and was a mere spectator to the carnage. Jabbing his claws into the building wall, he climbed up it. Once at the top of the building, he could see the trail led to the bell tower. A half smirk formed on his face. One of the missions Krew had sent him on had been to clear out the tower and get some sort of 'treasure'. Turned out, the treasure was some sort of foul smelling food that Krew had said was a delicacy. Jak felt his dark form turn back into his normal form. Strange, the normally rage and hatred filled being in his mind was content and eager to meet the other, as it called it. How unusual.

Jak walked across the building tops towards the tower; there he climbed up a battered metal ladder that had many rungs missing and was threatening to dump him back on the rooftop below. About half way up, he heard movement. Well, it seemed something was there. He continued climbing warily, however, no attack came. Pulling himself up onto the floor of the bell tower, Jak was almost shocked at what he saw. Almost. Strewn everywhere were bones that had been half chewed on, and off in the corner was the creature, still nursing it's injuries from the fight. Upon seeing him, it hissed warningly. It was a bluff and they both knew it. The creature was in no shape to fight.

Crouching down, Jak spoke softly. "It's alright; I'm not going to hurt you." _How ironic_, he thought,_ just two days ago I was sent to kill it_. It watched him warily, growling softly. The creature moved a bit, seemingly calming down as Jak softly spoke. However, it had lulled Jak into lowering his guard. Unexpectedly, it leapt towards him; Dark snatched control and slammed his claws into the creature's chest, then flung it out of the bell tower. Jak quickly regained control in time to hear a dull thud followed by a yelp of pain below.

"Dammit!" He spat out as he slid down the ladder to the roof below and then leapt down onto a tarp that broke his fall to the ground. On the ground, there was a lot of blood, but no creature. Sighing softly, he then reluctantly decided that the creature was just that: a wild creature. It appeared that no shred of humanity was left.

There was a tingling feeling on the back of his neck, a feeling he always got when he was being watching. Instinctively, he pulled out his morph gun and set it to the blaster setting, then, he warily looked around for the being. He turned around, hearing something behind him, there, on the wall, was the creature. It hissed and the scrambled up out of sight. No doubt this wasn't the last that he would see of it, he was sure of that.

"I'll let you live…For now…" Jak said quietly after the being had left. Despite the fact that it had attacked him, and nearly killed him, he felt a sort of connection with it. In fact, he felt compassionate towards it. Slinging the gun back over his shoulder, he walked back towards the Resistance hiding place. By the time he got back, the sun was just peeking over the city's walls. Once inside the hideout, an almost panic-stricken Daxter and an infuriated Torn greeted him.

"Where were you!" Daxter demanded, pacing in front of him.

"For once, I agree with the rat." Torn commented, his voice low and as always, solemn.

Jak simply shrugged, and gave a plain, but ambiguous reply. "I went for a walk."

Torn scowled before moving to his desk. For once, he couldn't think of a mission to send the duo on. Grunting, he looked towards the two. "Get out of here." He looked down at his desk to begin to glance through an assortment of reports. His concentration was broken, however, by an orange annoyance.

"HEY! Tattooed wonder! Don't you have anything for us to do?"

"Get the hell off my desk!" Torn barked, "Before I skin you and use your hide for a knife sheath!"

Daxter's ears drooped and he immediately seemed paler, if that was possible because of his fur. With almost an audible whimper, he leapt off the desk and scrambled up onto Jak's shoulder.

Jak turned and left, chuckling softly under his breath.

"Not funny!"

"Well, you need to learn not to harass Torn." Jak replied, grinning. Daxter didn't reply, he simply grumbled under his breath. Shaking his head, Jak got onto a zoomer and headed off.

"Where are we going?"

"The stadium. I want Keira to look at my hover board."

"Uhhuh..." Daxter was just about to make a comment when the zoomer suddenly swerved. The ottsel took it as a sign not to comment.


	4. Anyone with a Pulse

Yay. Another chapter! ; The title of this chapter is from when Krew meets Jak and says 'The Ungerground will take anyone with a pulse these days'. Anyways. I want mroe reviews. ;-;

* * *

Upon reaching the stadium, Jak walked to the small area that was Keira's workshop. Lightly, he knocked on the door frame as he stepped inside. "Keira, are you here?" There was a clattering noise as something was dropped. Then, the green haired she elf crawled out from under a zoomer. "Jak!" She walked over to him and smiled happily. "I was worried about you after I heard about the monster attack." Daxter scowled. "What am I? Chopper liver?" Both Jak and Keira ignored the ottsel's ranting. To Jak, whenever he was with Keira, all his problems seemed distant, the pain was less, and he was…Happier. Happiness…It was a word that had been ruthlessly snatched away from him two years ago. 

"I'm alright. Just a flesh wound." He gave a rare, genuine smile. Even though he was joking, there was no mirth in the smile. It was a sad smile, the smile of a young man who had seen and had been through too much. Keira was about to say something when Daxter had to open his big mouth and ruined the moment. "HEY! What about me! I was there too y'know!" The she elf got an uncomfortable look on her face and what almost looked like a slight blush formed on her face. Rather quickly, in Jak's opinion, she changed the subject to something else. "Well, I'm glad you're alright. So, why are you here? Going to practice for the next race?" A thumb was pointed at the racing zoomer, and then she sent the ottsel a mildly annoyed look. Daxter was currently examining himself in the reflection of one of her machines. "Shiiiney…" He breathed. Moving over to him, Keira lightly thwaped him on the head just as he was reaching to touch it. "Don't…Touch." She hissed. Daxter pouted.

Jak shook his head. "No, I was wanting you to look at my hover board. It's been making a slight rattling noise." In actuality, he had wanted to talk to her about what had happened during the fight and how Dark Jak had felt about the creature. However, he decided that it probably wasn't a good idea at this time, all thanks to Daxter. He handed Keira the hover board and she quickly turned it on then listened to it. "I don't hear anything, but I'll check it over anyway." After a few moments, she had done a few tests and some mild tuning, and then she handed it back to him. "I didn't find anything wrong with it." Jak frowned, and then he gave a slight shrug. "Maybe it was my imagination." Keira gave him a gentle smile. "You've been busy and you have a lot on your shoulders. Don't worry though; I honestly needed the break from working on the zoomer."

After grabbing Daxter, Jak left the workshop and headed for the farming district. Maybe spending some time in the forest would help to clear his mind. Unfortunately, his Talk box activated. It was none other than Torn. Jak suppressed a groan. "Jak, get back to the hideout. I've got a new recruit that I want you to show around." Then the box clicked off. Daxter scowled. "What are we? The babysitting service?" Jak couldn't help but to agree.

A little bit later, the two arrived back at the hideout, there; Torn was waiting with the new recruit. The new kid was short, very short, had shoulder length red hair, a couple of pricings in each ear, was wearing dark pants with knee guards, a shirt that had the sleeves torn off, arm bracers, and the standard gun. Glancing over the new guy, Jak decided that he was probably about five foot and no doubt thought he could take on the world. Probably a bit aggressive due to his small size. Jak couldn't help but to mentally roll his eyes. Great. Just great. He had to baby sit some kid that was a punk, bad ass wannabe. Torn was saying a few things and the boy simply nodded in acknowledgement. The always angry one glanced up and nodded at Jak. "Here's Jak. Jak, this is Aryn." Then boy glanced over…Her shoulder? That's wasn't a boy, that was a girl!

The first thing he noticed was her pale skin. No doubt from the dark clothing and being a red head. The next thing he noticed were the vividly green eyes, that were hauntingly familiar for some odd reason. He was shaken out of his musings as Daxter leapt off his shoulder and walked over to the new girl. "Hallo there sweet stuff. You look like you're new to this joint. I can show you all the hot spots and then some." The ottsel waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Aryn simply shook her head. "Sorry, I don't go for animals," A thin, almost predatory grin, "I suggest trying the local sewers: the rats might like you." Jak couldn't help but grin. He liked her biting sense of humor. "Oo, buurrn." He commented to Daxter who scowled and climbed back up to his shoulder to pout.

Torn glanced at the trio with mild annoyance on his face, as always. "Looks like you'll get along fine. Jak, I want you to do a simple mission at the water pumping station. Supposedly, the Baron is going to have the water turned off, again. Take Aryn with you and take out any guards and techs that are there." Jak nodded and motioned for Aryn to follow him. After they left the hideout, he glanced over at her. "You know how to work a morph gun?" She gave a curt nod. Jak gave a slow nod. "Are you good at anything else, combat wise? Again, the girl gave a nod. "I'm also fairly good with hand to hand combat and using knives." Jak grinned. "Handy." In the back of his mind, his dark side stirred. It was mildly curious about the person he was traveling with. Then, Dark Jak said one, simple word. **Strange. **Jak blinked, and then silently replied. _What's strange?_ **Her. **_What's so strange about her? _Dark Jak never replied. This left Jak wondering about what the other being had meant. Maybe he was meaning her small size. That was certainly something strange. Most of the people here, excluding the children, were fairly tall. Some how, he doubted that she was a child.

"How old are you?" He asked suddenly, surprising himself with the abruptness. She glanced up at him with a look of mild surprise on her face. "17. Why?" Jak shrugged. "I'm just curious, that's all." She was about the same age he was. Odd, she didn't look it. Oh well. It didn't really matter. "Are you familiar with the city?" Again, she gave another nod. Well, that just made his job a hell of a lot easier. "Well, let's go kick some ass then." Aryn gave a wide grin. "Sounds like fun to me." Daxter gave a loud groan. "Great! I'm stuck with two lunatics!"

The trio got to the pumping station soon enough and it seemed that Torn's contacts were right on the money. Sure enough, there was a small group of guards and two techs working on the pumping station. Silently, Jak peered around the corner and watched the group for a moment, and then he looked back to Aryn. "I'm guessing that there's about six guards and two techs. You deal with the techs; I'll take care of the guards." A look of distaste crossed her face at the thought of being given the easy job. It looked as if she was going to protest, then she thought better of it. "Alright then I'll turn the water back on if it's been turned off."

The two elves split up, with Jak distracting the guards. However, they all didn't go after him like he expected. Two stayed with the techs, while the other four went after him. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Aryn perched precariously on a small ledge above the small group. How the hell did she get up there? While Jak was dealing with the four guards, Aryn dropped down behind a tech and quickly broke his neck with a sickening snap. The two guards spun around and leveled their rifles at her. She raised her hands in innocence.

Jak had quickly taken care of the four and he looked back up. "Damn it! First mission and she gets herself in trouble." He hissed to himself as he sprinted up to where Aryn and the guards were. When he reached the level, he about froze when he heard what the guard said. "You! The Baron's been looking for you." The red head gave a coy smile. "I'm sure he has…" Then, she suddenly did a spin kick to the left guard's head, sending him off the ledge. Almost immediately, she tackled the other guard, however, the guard managed to squeeze off a shot. Luckily for her, the bullet only grazed her arm. Perched on the guard's chest, she delivered a punch with the palm of her hand to his chin. The force of the blow was strong enough to snap his neck.

Jak watched all this, fairly impressed. Glancing towards the tech, he frowned. "Get out of here." Yelping, the tech scurried away, back towards the city. Looking back to Aryn his frown deepened. "Are you alright?" She simply nodded. "I'll live." He gave her a pat on the back. "Nice moves, kid. I got a question though. What was the guard talking about?" For a brief moment, a dark look clouded her face, but it quickly went away. "I got out of the good Baron's prison a bit ago. Rather, escaped would be a better word I suppose. I was put in there because I stole stuff to survive and...Well, obviously I got caught."

Mentally, he blanched at the thought of the Baron's prison. There were too many bad memories of that place. Thankfully, Daxter interrupted the recollection as he hopped off of Jak's shoulder and on to the girl's. "Hey Toots. Dig the moves ya did. How 'bout we go to my place and I'll show you some of my moves?" Again with the suggesting eyebrow waggling. Aryn simply shook her head but tolerated the ottsel being on her shoulder. Jak simply shook his head. "Dax, you need a girlfriend." The orange rodent gave a smug grin. "Who said that I don't?" He hopped onto the male elf's shoulder and quickly changed the subject. "I bet tattooed wonder will want to hear about this." A low chuckle came from Aryn. "Nice nick name. Personally, I like to call him Mr. Stick-Up-His-Ass Torn." Daxter gave a low whistle. "I like that…" Jak just groaned and shook his head.

Once back at the hideout, Aryn retired to the room that had been deemed hers, leaving Torn and Jak alone. The older elf leaned against the desk. "So. How'd she do?" Jak gave a shrug of obvious indifference. "She's a pretty good fighter when it comes to hand to hand combat. Not sure how she does with a gun. Seems the Baron doesn't like her." Jak commented, reviewing the events of the earlier fight. Torn grunted. "Great. Just what I need: another person with a death wish vendetta against the Baron." Jak just grinned. "She's not as bad as me, so don't worry." With a snort, Torn moved some papers on his desk. "I'm going to assign her to you for awhile. I figure she can learn some things off you."

At this, Daxter let out a purring growl. "Oh yeah. Maybe I can work my moves on her." Torn gave the ottsel a side long look. "Dream on rodent. I don't think she's into annoying talking animals." Seemingly, Torn was in a fairly good mood. How long would that last? Probably not long.


End file.
